The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) on Wednesday announced that it had achieved its target of raising R500-million at a bond auction, demonstrating the continued support of investors.

The agency noted that investors had offered a total of R1.75-billion, which was a three-and-a-half-time oversubscription.

The full suite of guaranteed bonds under Sanral’s domestic medium-term note programme was offered at the auction with the entity having tapped four of these.

“We are overwhelmed by the strong support as well as the pricing, which is mostly below mark-to-market rates. We consider this a reflection of investors’ confidence in Sanral’s long-term future,” Sanral CFO Inge Mulder said.

Out of the R500-million, R55-million was allocated to the Hway20 bond at 54 basis points, R200-million to the Hway23 bond at 29 basis points, R25-million to Hway24 at 29 basis points and R220-million to the Hway34 bond at 65 basis points.

“The significant interest in the Hway34 bond, a long-term fixed-based bond, which traded three basis points below yesterday’s market price, is testament [to] investors’ confidence in Sanral,” Mulder added.

The next auction, with about the same value, was scheduled to take place on June 4.

“The agency is well ahead of its forecast in terms of cash received to date and this continues to encourage the investors to see the upside in Sanral bonds,” added Sanral.